The Daily Telegraph - 26.08.2019

Sport Rugby Union

R

ekindling memories of

Jim Telfer’s legendary

Lions speech on the

series victory against

South Africa in 1997,

Eddie Jones has

likened his side’s preparation for

the World Cup in Japan to

ascending Mount Everest.

For Jones, though, the record

57-15, eight-try demolition of

Ireland at Twickenham on

Saturday is still miles from what he

believes is his side’s summit. The

hardest work is yet to come, Jones

insists, starting with an intense

conditioning trip to Treviso, their

second trip to the Italian city this

summer, this week.

“You have ideas in your head but

you never know exactly where you

need to be because you don’t know

where the opposition are,” said

Jones. “If we’re at the bottom of

Mount Everest, we’ve got to plan to

be at base camp three by now, but

[if ] everyone else is at base camp

five, then your plan is wrong.

“So you’ve got to keep

evaluating, keep looking, you don’t

know where you should or where

you shouldn’t be. But the only

thing you do know is you’ve got to

keep going forward and that’s

hard. It’s like climbing a mountain:

the higher you get, the more

uncomfortable it gets, the ground

gets shaky, your ears start to burn,

your nose starts to run, and that’s

where we’re getting into that

territory because we’ve got to push

it forward again.”

If future gains remain uncertain,

what is clear though is that

England’s time together since June

has already paid rich dividends. In

stark contrast to Ireland, who

looked distinctly underdone in

their capitulation in the first World

Cup warm-up outing for most of

their first-choice side, it is hard to

remember an England side in more

intimidating physical condition.

The power of Manu Tuilagi and

Joe Cokanasiga rightly stole the

immediate headlines, with three

tries between them, but, as Jones

correctly highlighted, it was the

phenomenal impact of the

forwards in front of them that laid

Ireland bare.

It was a just reward that four of

the tries came from the pack, with

Maro Itoje, George Kruis – who

were outstanding at the line-out

where Ireland lost six of their

throws – Tom Curry, and Luke

Cowan-Dickie all scoring.

As if the past three years have

merely been a phoney war, Jones

appears in his element, using the

unrestricted access to his players

in this three-month preparation

period to hone them into a squad

who even at this stage seem

genuine contenders in Japan.

Conditioning and bonding,

notwithstanding the altercation

between Ben Te’o and Mike

Brown, are where Jones feels there

has been most advancement.

The Lions comparison comes to

mind again, with Jones putting an

emphasis on blending together the

different mindsets from the 12

Premiership clubs, and claiming

the sum was already greater than

the parts. He is constantly

disrupting their routines too – they

arrived deliberately 20 minutes

later than normal on Saturday – to

ensure they are ready for all of the

challenges of Japan.

“We’re massively fitter. I think

you can see that, we’ve got

body-shape changes,” said Jones.

“Look at big Billy [Vunipola] over

there, he’s incredible mate. And

then the ability of the players to

spend time whilst they’re still

together, work out problems and

develop better relationships.

“For an England side that is

quite a difficult thing because

you’ve got 12 clubs here that have

all different philosophies and the

players are employed by the clubs.

If someone pays you money, you’re

loyal to that club. So to have time

together as a team and for them to

work out differences for a better

relationship is massive for us.”

The younger players in the

squad, such as Kyle Sinckler, who

at times was operating like a

powerhouse fly-half on Saturday,

combining explosive brawn with

sweet hands, have benefited the

most, according to Jones.

“In a Test week it’s business all

the time; now we have time to have

sessions – they’re not all drinking

sessions but we do have some

drinking sessions – but the

sessions where the players just

communicate and guys like [Ellis]

Genge and even Sincks to a certain

extent are able to develop better

relationships with the players they

don’t really know.”

Jones saw evidence of that

newfound unity even in the

narrow defeat by Wales in Cardiff.

“I thought we showed plenty of

fight in that last game,” Jones

added. “They’ve gone full strength

for the second week in a row,

they’ve been threatened with

non-selection, they’ve got 72,000

Welsh fans there and they’re going

flipping nuts because the referee

can’t control the game.

“There’s every reason for us to

fracture but we didn’t because we

had young blokes playing, guys

who haven’t had a lot of rugby and

we stuck to the task. In the end it

was one try that should have been

Rampage: Tom

Curry charges

through for a try

as England tear

Ireland to shreds

in the second half

Jones warns team rout

of Ireland is just staging

post en route to Japan,

writes Gavin Mairs

‘The

only

thing

you do

know is

you’ve

got to

keep

going

forward,

and

that’s

hard’

England scale heights,

but summit is still far off

In safe hands How Curry scored his try

In a perfect display of the handling ability England

coach Eddie Jones wants, Kyle Sinckler plays a tip

pass to Sam Underhill who draws Jordan Larmour

before finding the supporting Tom Curry (right)

Curry

Sinckler

Underhill

Time of try

57min

Run

Pass

Run with ball

England

Ireland

Direction

of play

MARK PAIN/PA IMAGES CONTRIBUTOR

20 *** Monday 26 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph

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